Matchmaking 101
by Darkchilde
Summary: Brooke, Tyler, Val, and Hank all decide to play matchmaker with Jamie and Catie. Will they suceed?
1. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: All the mentioned characters don't belong to me, they belong to...well..someone else. Not me. I think that it's Disney, but I'm not sure. Hmmp. Well, anyway, I still wish that Jamie was mine, but he's not. Oh well. I can't come up with anything else clever to say about this story *cough cough next chapter of your story Madison hack cough*, so without further ado...   
  
Matchmaking 101  
Chapter 1/?  
  
The chill of the autumn air bit into Catie Roth's skin, and she shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to get warm. She hitched her backpack up a little higher on her back, and continued her walk home from school, her heavy combat boots slapping against the cement. Another gust of wind had her shivering in her boots, and she tightened her hold on her arms, trying to warm herself as best she could.   
  
"This is the last time I try to piss off Mom by not bringing a jacket to school." Catie muttered to herself, a lock of her dark hair falling into her face. She grunted in annoyance and pushed it back, cursing herself for leaving it down today. She normally pulled it back, if for nothing else then to keep it out of her face. If there was one thing that she hated, it was for her hair to be in her face.   
  
Actually, there WAS one good thing about wearing it down. It had surprised the heck out of Jamie. A small smirk pulled at her lips as she remembered the surprise in his expression when he had caught up to her right after second period. But the surprise was quickly replaced by something else in his eyes, something that she liked far more then she really ought to of.  
  
Her mind called up the exact words that he had said, the exact way his lips had moved to form the words. "Hey--wow, I like your hair like that."   
  
Caite stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and winced at her own stupidity. No, she was not turnng into one of those girls who got all gooey and mushy whenever some cute guy paid them a compliment.   
  
'How can you--no cute guy ever pays you a compliment, remember?' A little voice in the back of her head asked. 'There all so busy drooling over Val...'  
  
Catie cut that thought off before it got a chance to get going. That wasn't true and she knew it. And besides, it wasn't VAL'S fault that she was beautiful and popular and good at everything. Okay, so maybe some of that WAS Val's fault, but hey, she was just a born overachiever.   
  
The dark haired girl sighed, and started walking again, a little slower this time, the cold air not penetrating through the haze of thought around her brain. She was good at stuff. People liked her. Okay, so she wasn't as good at as much stuff as Val, and not as many people liked her as Val...  
  
Catie cut her thoughts off again, sighing in annoyance at herself. God, why was she always such a drama queen? Just another time that Val was right, the little voice in the back of her head pointed out. Catie was beginng to hate that little voice.   
  
The roar of a motorcycle engine caught her attention, pulling her away from her thoughts, and making her look up. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she found herself lost in a pair of deep brown eyes, finged with lashes so long that it looked like the owner was wearing mascarea. A wide, easy smile shone at her, perfectly white, straight teeth shone off by that disarming grin.  
  
Catie rolled her eyes upward, but she couldn't stop the smile that crept to her face. "Are you stalking me?"   
  
"Of course." Jamie Waite teased back, balancing on both his feet and shutting the engine of his bike down. "That was me outside your bedroom last night."  
  
"Oh, yeah. I was wondering who that was." She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest again and shivering slightly. Jamie noticed the movement, and lifted an eyebrow.   
  
"You alright?"   
  
"Does it look like I'm alright? I'm freezing." Catie snapped, rolling her eyes. Jamie blinked, then smirked.   
  
"Sorry." Jamie chuckled, and shrugged off his leather jacket and handed it to the shaking girl. "Here."   
  
"No, I'm fine..." Catie was cut off when another strong wind blew, and her teeth started chattering. Jamie rolled his eyes, and threw the jacket at her. Left with no other choice, Catie caught it, and slipped it on over her shoulders, after shrugging her bag off her back. She sighed softly in relief, her arms no longer numb from the chilly air. "Thanks." Catie mumbled.  
  
"No problem. I wasn't really cold anyway. I just didn't have anywhere to carry it." Jamie explained to her.   
  
"Yeah, right." Catie smirked.  
  
"You don't believe me?" Jamie asked, crossing his arms over his chest.   
  
"Don't worry, I think your cute when you're being macho." Catie told him, dropping her voice to a stage confidential whisper. He nodded sagely.   
  
"Ahh, I see. You think I'm being macho."   
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"Well, if you think that about me offering you my jacket, what are you going to think about me offering you a ride home?" Jamie wanted to know.  
  
"I would think you were an angel sent from God." Catie swore.  
  
"Well, I suppose ONE more good samartain point couldn't hurt TOO much..." Jamie trailed off, and smiled. "Climb on."   
  
"On that?"   
  
"What else?"   
  
"Oh, no. I don't think so..." Catie trailed off, but her teeth began to chatter again, much to her annoyance. Jamie noticed, and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Catie, just get on the bike. You're not going to fall or anything, I promise." Jamie promised her, crossing his heart.   
  
"That was so lame. I haven't done that since I was in, like, third grade." Catie told him, a smirk pulling at her lips.   
  
"Hey, I have a six year old sister at home that thinks it's the coolest." Jamie defended himself, laughing.  
  
"Hmmm. That should tell you something." Catie told him. Then she turned her attention back to the bike, and sighed softly. "Okay, how do I do this?"   
  
"Just swing your leg over the back and hold onto my waist." Jamie instructed, scooting forward a little on the seat to make room for her.   
  
Catie did so, and managed not to fall in the process, much to her surprise. However, the way she was require to sit hiked her skirt up past her knees, and the cold air was currently turning them blue in the few seconds they had been revealed to the elements.   
  
"Not bad." Jamie teased, wrapping a long fingered hand around one of her calf muscles. Catie slapped his shoulder lightly, and he moved his hand. "Just kidding." He started the engine, and the biked roared to life.  
  
Catie wrapped her arms around his waist and held on for dear life, quickly surpressing a shriek. In all the years she and Jamie had been friends, she hand managed to forgo the "pleasure" of riding on his bike before now. In fact, she hadn't been about to die of cold, she would have forgone it THIS time.   
  
"Um, Caite?" Jamie called back to her, his voice slightly strained.  
  
"What?" Catie asked, her voice muffled because she had her face buried in his jacket.   
  
"I can't breathe."   
  
"Sorry." Catie muttered, loosening her hold on her friend, but only slightly. After a few more minutes, she finally got up enough nerve to peak over Jamie's shoulder. "Oh, wow..." She whispered, her lips close enough to his ear for him to hear her.  
  
"Great, isn't it?" Jamie called back to her.   
  
"Yeah." Catie agreed, holding on a little more tightly. The warmth of Jamie's back pressead against her front warmed her to her toes, and smiled, setting her chin on his shouder so she could watch the scenery flow past.   
  
****  
  
"Man, it is COLD!" Brooke Linar complained to her sister Val. The twelve-year-old shivered and blew on her clasped hands, trying to get them to warm up. "All this cold isn't good for my fingers!"   
  
Val laughed, and stuck her own hands deeper into her pockets. "That's why you should have brought gloves silly."   
  
"Oh, now you tell me." Brooke laughed as well, slowing to a stop on the edge of the sidewalk that the two girls were following on their way home from school. The sign above her head flashed don't walk in bright red letters, and a had a picture of a little red man walking in a cross through it.   
  
"Yeah, well..." Val shrugged her shoulders. "What can you do?"   
  
Brooke shook her head, and turned her attention to the cars that were whizzing by on their way to this or that place. Her eyes landed on a motorcycle carrying a young couple that pulled up to the intersection, just as the light turned red, and the sign flashed "walk".  
  
The Linar sisters stepped out onto the crosswalk and crossed as quickly as possible, each wanting to get home for assorted reasons. However, Brooke's attention was, inexplicably, pulled back to the young couple on the bike. For some reason, they just looked so...familar.   
  
It was the girl's black hair and pale skin, not to mention odd clothing, that clued her in. Brooke blinked, and grabbed Val's hand.   
  
"Oh my gosh, Val look! That's Catie and Jamie!" Brooke told her, pointing to the cycle. Val turned around to look, but the light turned green before she got a chance to see them clearly.   
  
"What? Catie and Jamie? Where?" Val asked, confused.   
  
"They just left. They were on Jamie's bike...and they looked sorta cozy, if you know what I mean." Brooke grinned, her eyes glowing.   
  
"Brooke. Catie and Jamie are just FRIENDS. I know, she told me so." Val told her little sister, noticing the same sparkle in her eye that Val herself got when she decided to play matchmaker.   
  
"Yeah, right." Brooke said dazedly, her brain already alight with matchmaking schemes.   
  
  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: not mine, all Disney's. Please don't sue. Anyway, nothing else to say, so without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101  
Chapter 2/??  
  
Catie tossed her Spainish book in her locker, slamming it shut and fixing the lock. With a deep sigh of relief, she turned from the silver door and hitched her bookbag up on her shoulders somemore. School was finaly over for the day, and she was more anxious then normal to get out of this building.   
  
School was a hassle that Catie moderately put up with. She disliked the social heirarchy that ruled in the school system, and did her best to throw a monkey wrench into the system whenever she got a chance. However, that often left her the butt of many of her less enlightened classmates jokes, but it didn't normally bother her.  
  
Normally.  
  
But today, at lunch, she had overheard one of the nastier rumors going around about her, and it had completely floored her. She knew most of the jokes--"She sleeps in a coffin", "She drinks and bathes in blood", "She kills and eats newborns", etc. etc.   
  
However, she hadn't been aware of the fact that there was a rumor going around that she PAID Val to be her friend. For some reason, that hurt more then anything else the rockheads and skanks could come up with in their feeble little minds. And what was worse was that she didn't know why.   
  
She knew that Val was her best friend, and that she would never stop being her friend. But it hurt, to think that maybe Val got slack for being friend's with such a social outcast. Catie shook her head, trying to clear out all those nasty thoughts, and continued down the rapidly emptying hallway.   
  
She would be glad when this week was over, and she could have two days just to be away from all the morons and goons that populated the halls of Kingsport High.   
  
The young woman reached the double doors at the end of the hallway and shoved them open, all but stomping into the chilly autumn air. Today, she had decided to bring a jacket, and was glad of it--without it, she would probably freeze to death.   
  
She stopped on the steps of the school to zip up her jacket, looking down to make the little golden peice attach itself to the zipper part. When her jacket was finally zipped, she looked back up, perparing for a rather cold and lonly walk home. Val lived in the opposite direction; besides, she was on call today.   
  
Moving down the steps, Catie stepped onto the grass that seperated the school from the street, and walked across it, her feet slapping against the wet grass and making slight slip slop nosies. That nosie was suddenly drowned out by the roar of an engine, and Catie looked up and and behind her in surprise.   
  
Jamie pulled to a stop beside her, and balanced on both of his feet, a small smile on his face. Catie blinked, and let herself smile back, wondering what he wanted.   
  
Before she got a chance to ask, he answered her mental question. "Want a ride home?"   
  
Without hesitation, Catie smiled, her dark eyes glittering slightly. "Sure."   
  
****   
  
"I'm telling you Val, they were MADE for each other. I mean, have you ever seen the way they look at each other? Or TALK about each other? You said yourelf, Catie talks about Jamie a LOT. And that's weird, I mean...for Catie. She doesn't normally talk about anything NORMAL, you know, like boys and stuff. And, if you asked Tyler and Hank, I bet they would say that Jamie talks about Catie a lot too! I know he does, I've HEARD him do it!" Brooke prattled on, following her currently insane sister up the steps into the station.   
  
"Okay, okay, okay, okay! You've made your POINT Brooke, Catie and Jamie were meant to be together. But do you really think that either one of them is going to listen to us if we say that? I don't THINK so. Their nothing if not stubborn." Val pointed out.  
  
"Who's stubborn?" Tyler Connell asked, materializing at the sound of Val's voice. Brooke rolled her eyes at the sudden lovestruck expression on her sister's face, and tried not to laugh out loud.   
  
"Catie and Jamie." Brook filled him in.   
  
"I would difenately say that, yes, both of those people are very stubborn." Hank Beechum agreed, coming up from around the table. "Now, what does that have to do with anything?"   
  
"Brooke thinks that they would be 'perfect for each other'." Val exlained, grinning.   
  
"Catie..." Tyler started.  
  
"And Jamie?" Hank finished. The two boys exchanged looks, and Hank pulled his lips down in his patented 'sounds about right to me' expression.  
  
"They might be good together." Tyler thought out loud.  
  
"Yeah--they both got that anti-jock, anti-in crowd..." Hank started  
  
"Anti-everybody." Tyler interjected. Val made a face at him, and he smiled, in an attempt to reassure her that he was only kidding.   
  
"Anyway.. they do have a lot in common, they get along pretty good, and Catie's...well, she's not bad looking." Hank cut back in, finishing his previous statement. Val snorted at his comment, and would have remarked on the sexism of that sentence, but was cut off when Brooke jumped in.  
  
"And Jamie's cute to, at least Catie thinks so, so you know, they would just be...perfect for each other."  
  
"Okay, so now that WE'VE decide that they would be perfect for each other, we just have to wait for them to figure it out." Tyler suggested, hoping that the expression on Brooke's face didn't mean the same as it did when it was on her older sister's.   
  
"I don't think that they'll ever realize it without a little...help." Brooke replied, her eye glittering.   
  
Tyler winced; evidently, yes, it did mean the same thing.  
  
"So, you think we should do a little matchmaking?" Hank asked, a slight grin pulling at his features.   
  
"I defantely think that we should." Brooke agreed, a matching grin pulling at her lips. "Tyler?"  
  
The young man in question simply sighed, and threw his arms up into the air. "Sure. Why not?"   
  
"Great!" Brooke enthused. Then, as one, all three of them turned to look at Val, expectant looks on their faces.   
  
"What?" Val asked. Then it dawned on her. "Oh, no way. Guys, NO. I leanred my lesson the LAST time..."   
  
"Oh come on Val, your GOOD at this sort of thing! And besides, Catie IS your best friend. Don't you want her to be happy?" Brooke weedled, her eyes begging.   
  
"Guys...I mean...don't you think that we should just let them work it out by themselves?" Val suggested.  
  
"Did you let me and Jasmine?" Hank pointed out.   
  
"Umm...that was different?" Val tried.  
  
"Not even close." Tyler smirked.  
  
Val surveyed the expressions on her sister and two friends faces, and groaned. Looked like she was going to be setting up her best friend and Jamie Waite wether she wanted to play matchmaker or not. 


	3. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer and A/N: They aren't mine, they all belong to the people who own them. (Though I really would love to find Christopher Ralph under my Christmas tree this year...LOL!) ANYWAY, I felt SO bad about not getting this chapter out fast enough that I decide to write not one, not two, but three parts and post them tonight!! *grin* Actually, it's three right now, but now I know what I am going to do with this story, so more parts could be out real soon!! ANYWAY, this chapter is for Amanda, who really really really seems to want some Tyler/Val action. Oh, um, what else...oh yeah...a note on my other story, "Traditions"--I don't watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and only caught a few episodes of Angel. I actually HAVE a claddagh (I only wear jewerly that has a story behind it, I'm weird like that!), and that's why I used that ring. :) Sorry for the confusion--I got a couple reviews that mention Buffy and Angel, and I figured out that they must have a storyline behind a claddagh (and then my friend who is a BIG BtVS fan told me that I was right), and I didn't want people to think that I was stealing B&A's thing! Sorry, my bad!! *grin* Okay, now I'm just rambling...so without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101 3/??   
  
"So...any ideas?" Tyler asked Val later that afternoon. They were sitting together on the couch, attempting to fill out the never ending paper work that seemed to go along with being an EMT.   
  
"On what?" Val asked distractedly, looking up from her clipboard where she was hurriedly trying to fill out the last of her report before Brooke jumped all over her for being late with it.   
  
"Catie and Jamie."   
  
"Oh. Well, actually..." Val started, then made a face. "Not really."   
  
"Did I just hear you right?" Tyler asked, a smile pulling at his lips. "You, the Queen of Matchmaking, are drawing a blank?"  
  
"Yes, yes I am." Val confessed, rolling her eyes at him. "I mean, if this was any of my other friends, I know what to do."  
  
"The same thing we did with Jasmine and Hank?" Tyler guessed, suppressing a shudder at the memory. That little scheme of Val's had not been as much fun as she had thought it was.   
  
"Yeah." Val muttered, her eyes back on her report. However, she had quite writing on it, and was just tapping her pen, a frown furring her brow.   
  
"Val?" Tyler asked, slightly concerned. She jumped slightly, and smiled sheepishly at him.   
  
"Sorry. Just thinking." Val informed him, chewing on the bottom of her lip. "I mean, I can't believe I don't know my best friend well enough to know what would make her realize that she likes a guy!"   
  
"Hey...Catie's a little...different. I'm not ever REAL sure that this whole matchmaking thing is going to work, but Brooke can be pretty convincing." Tyler laughed, trying to pull Val's mind off her thoughts. "Just like her big sister."   
  
Val smiled up at him, and swatted him lightly on the shoulder, her eyes dancing. "Should I take that as a compliment?"  
  
"I think so." Tyler nodded solemnly; or as solemnly as one can when one is rubbing their should and wincing.   
  
"Well, thank you." Val laughed, shaking her head.   
  
"No problem." He laughed as well, before reaching out and snatching her clipboard from her.   
  
"Hey!" Val cried, jumping to her feet and trying to snatch her board back from him. "Give that back!"  
  
"No way! Not unless you promise not to hit me with it again!" Tyler laughed, holding the clipboard out of her reach.   
  
Val punched him in the shoulder, still reaching for her clipboard. "Tyler, I have to finish my report or Brooke is gonna string me up!"   
  
Tyler laughed again, and moved out of her reach, his blue eyes sparkling. "No, Miss Linar, I don't think so!"   
  
"TYLER!"  
  
The young man in question jogged off, still carrying Val's clipboard. Val twisted her lips into a mock snarl and ran after him, trying to suppress her own laughter. "Tyler come back here!"   
  
"Come and get me Val!"   
  
"You are in so much trouble when I catch you, Connell!"   
  
@-}--}---  
  
Catie rested her cheek against Jamie's strong back and sighed softly. She had never thought that riding a motorcycle could be this...exhilarating.   
  
'Maybe it's not the bike at all...maybe it's just being this close to Jamie.' A small voice whispered in the back of her mind. Catie blushed, and promptly vanished that voice into the deepest recesses of her mind, burying her face even deeper in Jamie's jacket to hide her flaming cheeks.   
  
The dull roar of the engine suddenly listened and then stopped all together. Pulling her face out of Jamie's jacket, she looked up to realize that they were already at her face.   
  
'Already!? No way...that was very long at all!' Catie thought to herself, surprised by her thoughts and the overwhelming reluctance to let go of Jamie's back. But she couldn't just cling to his waist forever.  
  
'Even thought you want to.' The annoying little voice was back.   
  
'Shut up.' Catie snarled mentally at the voice, then commanded her arms to unwrap themselves from Jamie's waist.   
  
However, her arms seemed to have a mind of their own, and refused to let go. Catie bit her lower lip, and tried again.   
  
This time, her arms almost listened to her. And they probably WOULD have let go of Jamie--if he hadn't have spoken up.  
  
"Wanna go for a ride?" He asked her, his deep voice caressing her ears.   
  
"Didn't we just do that?" Catie asked, and then mentally kicking herself for not saying yes immediately.   
  
Jamie chuckled. "I meant, somewhere that's not your house."   
  
'Yes!' Catie screamed mentally. However, she out loud she asked "Where? It's not like there a lot of places to go in this town. I mean, anywhere interesting that is."  
  
"Oh, you'd be surprised." He told her, a light chuckle in his voice.   
  
"And what does that mean?" She questioned, lifting an eyebrow even though he couldn't see her.   
  
"Ever been to Lover's Leap?" Jamie wanted to know, instead of answering her question.  
  
"Where?"   
  
"Thought as much. When do you have to be home?" He asked her, looking back over his shoulder at her. Catie blinked, trying to keep herself from losing herself in those dark pools of light.   
  
"Who says I even wanna go?" She demanded, knowing even as she said it that it was in vain.   
  
"You'd have already been gone if you didn't." Jamie reminded her, chuckling slightly.   
  
Catie huffed slightly, before letting a ghost of a smile touch her lips. "You know me too well."  
  
"I try." Jamie agreed, before restarting the engine and taking off.   
  
  



	4. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer and A/N: They still aren't mine. I still want Christopher Ralph   
for Christmas. Nothing else new has happened in the two minutes that I went from writing this author note from the last one I wrote. Oh, except--this chapter almost made me cry when I was writing it--and then my best friend called, and he was like--What's wrong?! Gah! I hate it when that happens! Anyway...without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101 4/??  
  
"Tyler, I'm not kidding give me back my report!" Her older sister's voice floated past Brooke's ears, and she rolled her eyes, snorting softly.   
  
"I really wish that they would flirt on their own time." She remarked to Hank, who was sitting across from her, his feet propped up on the table as he worked on his own set of never ending reports.   
  
"You think their bad here, you should see them at school." Hank laughed, shaking his head.   
  
"Real bad?" Brooke wanted to know, grinning.   
  
"Oh yeah. If I get caught in the middle of one more longing look, I'm going to throw myself off a cliff or something. I don't know how they manage to keep a 4.0--in the classes they have together, their to busy studying each other to bother listen to the teacher!" Hank laughed, shaking his head.   
  
"And I thought Catie and Jamie had it bad for each other." Brooke giggled, watching her sister try to snatch her reports back from the laughing Tyler.   
  
"Oh, trust me--Val and Tyler have nothing on those too." Hank assured her. "For awhile there, I thought they WERE together."   
  
"Really?" Brooke asked, curiously.   
  
"Yeah." Hank agreed, turning back to his reports, his brow furrowing in concentration.   
  
"Hmm." The younger Linar sister murmured to herself, looking back down at the magazine she was reading.   
  
'How We Fell In Love' written in bold pink letters with lots of tiny little heart etched around it caught her attention and she began to scan the article, only half-reading it, while the other part of her brain listened to Tyler and Val giggle and laugh and flirt.   
  
'We were just friends, until three of out mutual buds thought we would make a good couple.' Brooke blinked, and turned her entire attention on the article in her hands, a small grin pulling at her lips.   
  
"This could work." She thought out loud, reading the rest of the blurb.   
  
"What could work?" Hank asked, looking up from his reports. Brooke smiled broadly at him, and turned the article around to show him.  
  
"This!"   
  
@-}--)---  
  
"SO, where are we going again?!" Catie yelled over the roar of the engine, the cool wind whipping her long black hair behind her.   
  
"Lover's Leap!" Jamie called back to her, his voice barely audible as the wind carried it away from them.  
  
"Why are we going there again!?" Catie demanded loudly, tightening her hold on Jamie's waist and leaning with him as they took a sharp right curve.   
  
"You'll see!" Jamie laughed back to her, gunning the engine to increase their speed. Catie bit back a sudden urge to scream and hung on tighter, pushing her fear out of her mind. Riding through the streets of Kingsport on the back of a motorcycle was one thing, she decide, but driving up a winding mountain road is something else ENTIRELY.   
  
After a few more minutes, when it came apparent that they had reached a fairly straight stretch of road, Catie allowed herself to relax slightly, taking in the beautiful scenery that surrounded her.   
  
The narrow road was lined with trees, their leaves bursting with golds, browns, oranges and reds. A few evergreens dotted the area, their stark green needles a sharp contrast to the lovely colors of fall. Catie watched the trees flash by, melding together into a rush of color.  
  
She placed her cheek on his back, watching display with wide eyes, and silently rejoiced that she had let Jamie 'talk her into' coming out her. Whatever Jamie wanted to show her at this 'Lover's Leap' couldn't possible compare with the ride up her, she decided.   
  
  
  
  
She was wrong. Catie gaped at the scene that unfolded around her, as she stood on the edge of a sheer cliff. Some seven hundred feet beneath her, a lake, feed by a tiny creek, loomed. Jagged rocks stuck up from the deep blue waters, and the Gothic girl leaned out to look again, amazed by the picture that had been painted around her.   
  
She and Jamie were standing in a perfect semi circle clearing of trees, boulders looming some three feet above Jamie's head. They twisted and dipped, twirling together into a strange pattern.   
  
"Jamie." She breathed softly. "This place is...wow..."   
  
"I know. I love it up here." Jamie told her softly, looking out over the land with eyes that were to sad and to dark to really belong to him. Catie blinked in surprise, and reached out to touch his shoulder softly, drawing his gaze away from the scene around him to her.   
  
He let a small, sad smile pull at his lips and he placed his hand over hers, squeezing gently.   
  
"What is it?" Catie asked softly, stepping forward. She almost put her arms around him, but stopped herself, sensing that it would somehow not be appropriate.   
  
"My father. He use to bring me, and my mother and sisters up here--a long time ago. It was his favorite place to go...he use to tell us the story of how this cliff got it's name. My little sisters all thought it was so romantic; I just thought it was stupid." Jamie was rambling now, and he knew it. Shaking his head, he pulled his thoughts away from that subject, dropping his hand and turning away from Catie. "Look, never mind. Let's just go, okay?"   
  
"No." Catie told him firmly, her tone of voice catching him off guard. There was something... sad and angry and soft and caring and completely un-Catie like in her voice. Turning back to face her, his heart nearly skipped a beat.   
  
The drive up the mountain was a long one, so the sun was nearly setting by the time they had gotten there. The colors of the setting sun now matched the ones of the trees--brilliant scarlet streaks and gold and orange hues shone in the sky, the plain blue overshadowed by the explosive light that the disappearing light always left with.   
  
The waning light caught Catie in it's rays, illuminating her like an angel fallen from heaven. Golden rays flashed through her dark hair, catching and sparkling the light golden highlights that decorated Catie's hair, and weren't normally visible. Her eyes, normally a dark hazel, were now nearly as green as the evergreens that sparkled in the tree line, and her skin looked rich and soft as satin in the gentle golden hues of light that were rapidly disappearing.   
  
"Catie..." Jamie breathed softly, averting his eyes from her face, studying the space of ground that separated them.   
  
A space that was rapidly disappearing as she moved toward him, her strides slow but determined. Almost like he was a wounded animal that she was going to help, but she wasn't sure if he would run or not.   
  
"Jamie...I've know you for nearly five years, and I don't think that I've ever heard you talk about your family. Not once. What's your mom like? What's your dad like? What are your sisters like, and how many do you have? I don't know ANYTHING about your family." Catie told him, the realization bubbling to the surface of her mind as she said the words.   
  
Jamie swallowed and continued to stare at the ground, as if not looking at her would take away the questions that she was asking him--questions that he didn't want to answer.   
  
"Jamie...please." Her voice was softer then he had ever heard it before, and his heart began to bang against his chest again. He swallowed hard, and looked up into her beautiful, questioning eyes.   
  
That was his undoing.   
  
Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed, and opened his mouth to answer his questions. Instead of words however, a soft sob caught in his throat, and slammed his mouth closed so tightly that he nearly cracked his teeth. Hot tears, tears that he hadn't noticed before, welled up in his eyes, and he hurriedly blinked them away. However, instead of dissipating like they should of, they splashed down his cheeks. Turning his back to Catie he bit down on his lip, trying to get a handle on his emotions that were run roughshod over his control.   
  
Catie blinked and moved forward slowly, until she was standing right behind the young man. She reached out to touch his shoulders lightly, her fingers curling around his upper arms. Slowly, she forced him to turn around and face her.  
  
Tears slipped down his cheeks unchecked, and she lifted a hand to his face, brushing away a tear that had lingered to long on his cheek. Before she could think better of it, she stepped even closer, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his face down into her shoulder. He shuddered in her arms, his own slipping around her to pull her even closer to his body, holding onto her as if she was his last hope.   
  
"Shhh...shhhh...it's okay..." Catie whispered to him, holding him as close as she dared. Her heart hurt in her chest to see him like this, and she silently cursed herself for forcing an issue that he so obviously did not want to talk about. "I'm sorry Jamie..."   
  
"It's not your fault." His words were whispered into her hair, soft and sad. "It just...hurts."   
  
"What..." Catie stopped herself before she could ask, mentally kicking herself for her slip up.   
  
"My father." Jamie choked out by way of an answer. "He...he died, six years ago."   
  
"Oh Jamie...I'm so sorry...I didn't know." She whispered into his ear, her heart going out to him.   
  
"In a car accident. He flipped his car and it landed in a ditch. He died three days later...I wasn't there. I don't know where I was...I don't remember. But I wasn't there Catie. I wasn't there with my mother and my sisters when my dad died!" Another sob tore out of his throat, and Catie tightened her hold on him, tears slipping down her own cheeks.   
  
"Oh Jamie..." She whispered, pulling back a little so she could look him in the face. "I'm so sorry..."   
  
"I never got to say goodbye." Jamie whispered, swallowing so hard that his Adam's apple bobbed. "It was like...I don't..."   
  
"Jamie..." Catie whispered to him, reaching out to cup his face in her hands. "Oh Jamie...I'm so sorry."  
  
He bowed his head slightly, and she meet him half way, gently touching her forehead to his, and wrapping her arms around him as best she could.   
  
"Thank you." Jamie whispered to her.  
  
"Anytime." Catie whispered back, a hint of a smile pulling at her lips.   
  
  



	5. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer and A/N: Guess what?! They aren't mine! Dear Santa Claus; I've been a very good girl this year, so could you please put Christopher Ralph in my stocking this year? Or how about just by it? *grin* Okay Okay, this running joke is getting old. Gosh, I love these things--I just babble on and on about nothing at all! (As I'm sure most of you have noticed!) Anyway, sorry about making you wade through all the babble, I just like to talk. :) Hope you like this next installment, and I promise, in Chapter 6 you will find out all about Brooke's master plan...:)...so without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101 5/??   
  
The next morning, Catie stood in front of her locker, lost in thought. She glared at the insides of her locker, her hazel eyes holding a far away look in them.   
  
She and Jamie hadn't made it home from Lover's Leap last night until after midnight. Needless to say, when her parents caught her sneaking in five hours past her curfew, they were less then thrilled. She was now officially grounded until she was either twenty five or dead, whichever came first.   
  
"Catie!? Earth to Catie Roth!" Val voice broke into her thoughts, pulling her attention away from the locker.   
  
"Huh? Oh hi Val." Catie said distractedly.   
  
"You had no idea I was standing here did you?" Val asked her in amazement.   
  
"Umm...no? Why?" Catie asked, hoping that she hadn't missed something important.   
  
"I've been standing here trying to talk to you for the past five minutes! What is so interesting about your locker that you didn't even notice that I was standing here?" Val asked, grinning.   
  
"What? Nothing! I was just...umm...thinking..." Catie fumbled for an excuse that Val would believe, but judging by the expression on her best friend's face, she didn't think that she was going to be able to find one.   
  
"Okay, girl, spill. What's going on?"   
  
"There's nothing going on! I'm just...preoccupied...you know...with...school...and stuff." Catie looked up at her best friend, silently hoping that the taller girl would believe that line.   
  
No such luck.   
  
"School? Yeah right. Catie, since when did you care about school?" Val asked, smothering a laugh.   
  
"I care about school." Catie defended herself half-heartedly, scanning the hallway for a tall figure with rugged black hair and a leather jacket.   
  
"Since when?" Val repeated herself, shifting her books into one arm.   
  
"Since..." Catie didn't have time to finish her sentence, because all of the sudden, Jamie came into view, looking exactly the way he always did--but somehow different.   
  
"Catie?" Her best friend asked, snapping her fingers in the other girl's face, trying to get her attention.   
  
"Um, hey, Val, I'll...uh...catch up with you later, okay?" Catie asked, already moving down the hall, her ponytails bouncing.   
  
"Um, okay?" Val asked the thin air, watching her best friend make a bee line for Jamie Waite.   
  
As Val watched, Catie slipped up to Jamie and put her hand on his arm for a minute, her eyes locked on his face. She watched Jamie's face light up into a smile as he covered Catie's hand with his own, his eyes glued to her face. They talked for a minute, and then Catie laughed, shaking her head back and forth. The next thing Val knew, the twosome were walking down the hallway together, Catie's fingers still lingering lightly on Jamie's arm.   
  
The blonde watched him go, her eyebrows taking an excursion into her hairline. "Well...that was...interesting."   
  
"What was interesting?" Tyler asked from behind her, startling her.   
  
"Tyler! You scared me!" Val cried, put her hand up to her racing heart.   
  
"Sorry." He flashed a smile that made her heart race for another reason all together. Turning to look at Jamie and Catie again so he wouldn't see how blood red her cheeks were, Val gestured with her hand.   
  
"That's what's interesting. You know, if I didn't know better, I think that those two didn't need any help from Brooke to get together." Val thought out loud.   
  
Tyler looked as well, and a slight grin pulled at his lips. "I think your right. Think we should still go through with the plan?"  
  
Val thought for a minute, her eyebrows drawing together. Finally she smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, I think we should."  
  
"Now, for my next question: do you honestly think this hare-brain scam of Brooke's is going to work? Because you know, I would rather not be beat up by Jamie--or even worse, Catie." Tyler fretted, pulling his mouth to one side.   
  
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Val promised, smiling up at him.   
  
"I feel so much better now."   
  
"You should."   



	6. Default Chapter Title

Val took a deep breath and brushed her hair back out of her eyes, steeling herself against the tough fight that she knew was ahead of her. How she was going to do it, she didn't know. But the entire plot depended on her succeeding in this one little thing. However, she was not at all sure how she was going to succeed in her task.  
  
The blonde girl sighed, and leaned against her locker, a small smile pulling at her lips. And she accused Catie of being a drama queen.   
  
Val shifted her books in her arms, wishing that Catie would hurry up and get over here-she had to get to work, as well as talk Catie into going there with her. Today was the perfect day to put Brooke's "hare-brain scheme" into action.   
  
The female EMT was shaken out of her thoughts by the sudden appearance of her best friend, moving down the hall with a slight frown pulling at her lips.   
  
Taking yet another deep breath, Val went over the carefully prepared plan of action that she and Tyler had come up with over lunch, hoping that she didn't forget any of the little details that she had painstakingly thought up and written down. If this didn't work, she had no idea how she was going to get Catie to come to the station, and if she couldn't get Catie to the station, Brooke's plan would never work.   
  
"Hey Val." Catie called, coming to a stop in front of her locker, and spinning the combination lock.   
  
"Hey! Uh...I was wondering, could you come by the station this afternoon?" Val asked nervously, trying to keep her voice as even as possible. She had no idea why she had been selected to get Catie to the station--yeah, she was her best friend, but she was also the worse liar in the world.   
  
Catie blinked in surprise, looking over at her best friend. Why in the world did Val want her to come to the station? Was something wrong? She knew that Val more then likely didn't need her help on anything school related, and if it was something about Tyler, she certainly wouldn't want to tell her at the station...so what in the world could Val possibly want?  
  
'Who cares?' A little voice in the back of her head whispered. 'Go. Jamie will be there...'   
  
Catie chewed on her bottom lip, not listening to a thing that Val was saying to her. Things between Jamie and her were starting to get...strange. Not bad strange, just...different. She wanted to be around him more and more, and she missed him when he wasn't around. Something was happening to her, and she wasn't sure that she knew what it was-or even if she wanted it to stop.   
  
"So, will you?" Val concluded her rambling explanation, and crossed her fingers, hoping that Catie bought it.  
  
"Will I what-oh! Come to the station?" Catie shook herself, silently chiding herself for not paying attention to her friend better.   
  
"Um, yeah." Val nodded her head, looking at her best friend like she had three heads.   
  
"Oh...umm...yeah, sure." The brunette promised, pushing a lock of her hair back behind her ear. Val beamed at her, and nodded.  
  
"Great! I'll see you then!" Val promised, hopping off down the hall, her blonde hair bouncing.   
  
Catie watched her go, and shook her head, muffling a laugh. Val was her best friend, but sometimes she was such a total blonde.   
  
@-}--}---  
  
Hank, Brooke and Tyler were already at the station when Val got there. As soon as she walked in the door, she beamed, her eyes dancing.   
  
Tyler was, of course, the first one to see her, and interpreted her expression correctly. He grinned, and rose to his feet, his blue eyes sparkling.   
  
"Judging by your expression, you managed to talk Catie in to coming to the station, right?" He asked, drawing Hank and Brooke's attention to the beaming girl.   
  
"Oh yeah. I am so good!" Val cheered herself, grinning.   
  
"You did it? Alright!" Tyler cheered as well.   
  
"That's great! Now we can--" Brooke cut herself off when Jamie wondered through the door, his hands in his pockets.   
  
"Now you can what?" He asked, his tone bored and slightly uninterested. The foursome exchanged a look, then, as one, looked back at their friend. He noticed their looks and lifted an eyebrow. "What?"  
  
"Nothing! Hey, you know, it's your turn to do the supply inventory." Brooke was the fastest on her verbal feet as usual.  
  
"Ah man..." Jamie groaned, running his fingers through his black hair.   
  
"You know," Hank started, just as planned, "you could get a jump on it right now if you wanted to."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, people down the street can hear the alarms, so you'll know right away when there's a call." Tyler jumped in, grinning.   
  
"And it's been pretty slow today anyway." Val concluded, smiling.   
  
Jamie looked at the smiling teens and blinked, and then looked over at Brooke. "Did you put something in their water?"   
  
"Huh?" Brooke asked, crinkling her eyebrows.   
  
"They seem a little bit MORE overachieving then they normally do." Jamie explained, looking in mock horror at his friends.   
  
Brooke giggled and the other three stuck their tongues out at him. "Well, it's true." The young man defended himself, smirking.   
  
"Just go get the inventory." Hank laughed, slapping his friend on the back.   
  
"I'm going, I'm going." Jamie rolled his eyes, and leaving for the supply closet, tossing his jacket onto a chair as he went.   
  
As soon as he was out of sight and earshot, the matchmakers grinned at each other.   
  
"We are so good." Tyler grinned.   
  
"Oh yes." Val agreed, slamming a five with her little sister.   
  
"Now we just have to wait for Catie to get..." Brooke trailed off, peering out the window. A flash of jet black hair caught her attention, and she squeaked. "She's hear! Val, hide!"   
  
She didn't have to tell her sister twice, the pretty blonde scampering off into the ladies room. Val didn't leave any time to soon, because just as the door swung close, Catie made her way into the room, looking around for her best friend.   
  
"Hey Catie." Tyler called, trying his best to be casual.   
  
"Hi!" Brooke chirped, beaming. Hank just waved, trying to contain his laughter. Catie noticed, and knitted her eyebrows together.   
  
"What?" She asked, confused and slightly defensive.   
  
"Nothing. Just some really bad joke that Tyler just told." Brooke reassured her "other big sister".   
  
"Oh. Um, where's Jam--Val?" Catie shook herself, cursing her tongue for that little slip up.   
  
"Val? She's doing the supply inventory. She told us to tell you to just go on back." Tyler crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, a small grin pulling at his lips.  
  
"Oh. Okay." Catie said, looking at them in confusion. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, heading off toward the supply room. Brooke beamed even brighter, trying to suppress a cheer.  
  
"This is SO going to work!" She told her older friends, clapping her hands.  
  
@-}--)---  
  
Catie wandered toward the supply room, wondering what it was that Val wanted to talk to her about, and hopped that it wouldn't take to long. It wasn't that Catie didn't want to know what was going on with her best friend--she did. She just really needed to talk to her about this whole thing with Jamie.   
  
She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't even notice Val sneak out of the bathroom and follow her as quietly as possible.   
  
In a matter of minutes, Catie reached the supply room, and stepped through the open door. "Val?" She called, expecting her best friend's blonde head to pop around the corner at any moment.   
  
"Catie?" A much deeper, sexier voice called back, and a dark head peered around a corner at her.   
  
"Jamie! Uhh...Tyler told me that Val was in here." Catie tripped over her tongue, silently cursing herself.   
  
"Really?" Jamie asked, confused. "She was just in the common area with him, when I came in here to do the inventory."   
  
"He told me that Val was doing the inventory." Catie argued, confusion marring her features. Jamie stepped fully out from behind the shelf he had been partially hidden behind and looked at her.   
  
"Weird."  
  
"I know."   
  
The slamming of the door caught their attention, and drew them back to reality. Spinning around, Catie stared at the closed door in shock. However, it was the soft click that followed the closing of the door that really worried her.   
  
Moving forward, she grabbed the handle of the door and twisted. The door didn't open, didn't even budge. Startled, she twisted it the other way, and got the same affect.   
  
"Oh Lord." She whispered, putting her hand up to her mouth. "This is not happening."  
  
"What?" Jamie asked, concerned.   
"Jamie--how do you lock this door?" She asked her friend, biting down on her lip.  
  
"From the...out...side..." Jamie said slowly, his eyes getting larger as he said every word. "They didn't..."  
  
"They did." Catie whispered, not knowing whether to laugh or kick down the door and kick her best friend's butt. "We're locked in here!"   
  
  



	7. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: Guess what!? I don't own these characters, though I wish I did! Then I could have fun with them, and get paid to!! :) Well, I forgot to add this little note to the last chapter, because I was so happy to finally be uploading it! I hope you guys enjoy that chapter and this chapter, and please reveiw it to tell me if it was worth it! I'm actually almost done with this chapter! I have to finish chapter 8, and then I have two more to write. :) And I should have that done this weekend--maybe near the end of it, but by this weekend! :) Well, that's all I can think to say, I hope you guys like it, and without further ado...  
  
Matchamking 101 7/10  
  
  
"Catie is going to kill me."  
  
Val paced the room, chewing on her bottom lip, her blue eyes dark and worried. Tyler watched her go back and forth, a small grin pulling at his lips.  
  
"Calm down, Val. I'm sure that Catie is going to KILL you...she might be a little mad at you for a few--" Tyler tried to calm her down.  
  
"Years." Brooke spoke up, grinning when her sister winced.   
  
"I'm sure it won't be THAT long." Hank thought out loud.   
  
"That's because you don't know Catie all that well." Brooke informed him, going back to watching her sister pace.   
  
"Brooke, why did I let you talk me into this!?" Val shrieked at the girl, stopping her pacing and putting her hands to her head.   
  
"Couldn't tell you." The younger girl smiled.  
  
"Okay guys, let's just calm down." Tyler got, literally, in between the two girls and set his hands gently on Val's shoulders. "It will be okay. I'm sure Catie will realize that you had her best interests at heart--even if you did go about it in the COMPLETELY wrong way."   
  
"Oh thanks. Why didn't you say any of this when we came UP with this great plan?" Val asked, crinkling her eyebrows.  
  
"Well, because I didn't think they would take it this badly." Tyler trailed off, leaning his head to listen to the screaming that was QUITE audible from the supply closet.   
  
"TYLER! VAL! HANK! BROOKE! LET US OUT RIGHT NOW!" Jamie's deep voiced roared from behind the door, followed by great deals of pounding.  
  
"VAL!! BROOKE!! YOU TWO ARE SO DEAD WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE!" Catie shrieked, making Tyler's skin crawl slightly.   
  
"They are really pissed at us." Hank noted, rubbing his chin.  
  
"You think?" Brooke asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.   
  
"Maybe we should let them out?" Val suggested, chewing on her lip.  
  
"Let's give them a few more minutes, you know, let them cool down. They've only been in there--" Brooked checked the clock, and continued "fifteen minutes. This could still work."   
  
"Brooke, you've lost your mind!" Val informed her, moving toward the closet.   
  
"Hang on Val, she does have a point. I mean, them being locked up together might not work as well as we had HOPED it would, but we MIGHT not want to open the door right this very minute." Tyler suggested nervously.  
  
"Why is that?" Val asked, putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"You know that comment I made by not wanting to be beat up by Catie? I was serious about that." Tyler informed her.  
  
Val muffled a giggle, putting her hand up to her face and shaking her head. "You're crazy. Catie's to little to really hurt you."  
  
"Hey, she might be little, but I bet she's pretty stout." Hank chuckled, balling his hands up into fists and shadowboxing. "If she was angry enough, she might be able to take all of us at once."   
  
"And I'm sure Jamie's going to be right behind her." Tyler added, wincing.   
  
"All I have to say is that I'm glad that we're at an emergency medical station. We wouldn't loose to much blood before we got some help." Brooke added, nodding her head.   
  
"Guys! They're are friends, there not going to beat us up!" Val exclaimed a little to loudly. It was a little to loudly because evidently both Catie and Jamie heard her.   
  
"OH YES WE ARE!" The locked up twosome screamed together.   
  
"Um okay...let's leave them in there for a little while longer, okay?" Val asked nervously, looking toward the room apprehensively.  
  
"Good plan." Tyler observed, patting her shoulders and wincing as something heavy hit the door with a loud thump. "Maybe a little longer then we thought."  
  
"Yeah."" Val agreed.   
  
  
  
  



	8. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: I wish they were, but they're not. Mine that is. I'm BA--CK!!! LOL!! *girn* Did you guys miss me since...yesterday?! :) Well, I've got two new chapters of my current story, which I am almost finished with!! YAY!! AND tomorrow is my last day of school for nearly two whole weeks!! YES!! You know what that means---writing, writing, all the time (that I don't have to work...) I hope that I can reach my goal (I set myself a goal of writing each time I get a long break). Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, even if it does get a LITTLE steamy. Nothing that you wouldn't see on, say, Dawson's Creek or something to that effect, but I think that I can safely say it's the steamest story up right now. :) ANyway, without further ado...  
  
Matchamking 101 8/10   
  
"I am so gonna kill her as soon as I get out of here!" Catie declared, kicking the door one more time before sitting down on the cement floor, her dark eyes flashing.   
  
Jamie had given up pounding on the door about twenty minutes ago, realizing that there was no way that either one of them were going to be getting out of there until someone on the other side of the door decided to let them out.  
  
"They can't leave us in here forever, Catie." Jamie reassured her, grinning at her expression.   
  
"I know that. But it already feels like it." Catie muttered, tapping her foot against the hard ground, her eyes flashing.  
  
"Oh gee, thanks." Jamie snapped back sarcastically.  
  
"I didn't mean it like that." Catie apologized, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.   
  
"Oh." Jamie said, leaning his head back against the wall and looking at the ceiling. Catie looked at him for a moment, suddenly at a loss for words. An uncomfortable silence hung around the two of them, and Catie hated it. Normally, they could just hang out and talk--now it was just so...strange. What had happened, what had *changed* so dramatically, since this morning, for crying out loud?   
  
"Jamie, what is it?" Catie finally broke down and asked, her dark eyes worried. Jamie pulled his eyes away from the ceiling, and looked at her in confusion, his dark eyes clouded.   
  
"What is what?" He asked, tapping his chin with his fingers.   
  
"What's wrong? Your acting weird--even for you." Catie smirked, trying to lighten the mood. She winced when Jamie's eyes got darker then usual, dropping his gaze away from her to study the floor.   
  
Confused, and a little worried, the girl stood up and moved across the room sitting down right next to her friend. Her shoulder brushed his lightly, and she reached out to touch his hand slightly. She jumped a mile at the electric shook that rolled up her skin at that simple touch, she jerked her hand back. Curling her hand into a fist, she stared down at the ground, calming her banging heart down as best she could. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Jamie out of the corner of her eye, studying his profile.   
  
"Will you just tell me what's up with you?" Catie asked, confused. Jamie studied the floor for a little while, and then looked back up at her, his sexy mouth drawn down into a small frown. Wait-since when was Jamie's mouth sexy?  
  
'Since always'. The annoying voice was BACK!   
  
Catie dropped her eyes from Jamie's face, and went back to studying the floor, her thoughts spinning around and around in a maelstrom of thought, logic and emotion. Sighing, she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them, lancing her fingers together and shut her eyes. Her head was beginning to hurt.   
  
Her head wasn't the only thing that was hurting, the annoying little voice spoke up, sounding far to smug for Catie's liking.   
  
'Oh shut up!' She mentally hissed at the voice, wishing that it would just be quiet and retreat back into her subconscious.   
  
"Catie?" Jamie's voice intruded on her mental argument, drawing her out of her reverie. Opening her eyes and lifting her chin up, Catie found herself lost in a pair of the darkest brown eyes that she had ever seen. Small flicks of gold seemed to dance in those beautiful depths, shining with a strange warmth, but overcast with a pain that never seemed to go away.   
  
"Yeah?" She asked, slightly dazed, trying to shake off the feelings that he inspired in her.   
  
"Are you okay?" He asked, touching her hand gently, the tips of his fingers gently brushing across the sensitive nerve endings. A shiver went down her spin, and she trembled just a bit, before regaining control of her reaction and body.   
  
However, Jamie had noticed her shiver, and was now staring at her, concern now the dominant expression in his vivid eyes. Catie had to mentally grab and shake herself to keep from drowning in those dark pools of light. The girl swallowed hard, and rose to her feet. Her feet dragged her to the other side of the room, and she stood in front of the door, her heart pounding in her ears.   
  
She'd never gotten lost in someone before like that. Her heart was pounding, she could barely breathe, and all she wanted to do at that moment was the throw herself into Jamie's arms and...  
  
Catie cut her thoughts off before she got a chance to finish them. Now wasn't the time or place to start thinking those thoughts. Because she was afraid that if she started thinking those thoughts, pretty soon she would start acting on those thoughts, and that could lead to disaster, a place she was not at all willing to go--even with Jamie.   
  
"Catie?" She could hear the surprise and confusion in his expressive voice, and she wondered ideally if he could sing as well as he could talk. If he could, then he could probably make a million dollars before his twentieth birthday. She shook her head, smirking at her meandering thoughts, and tried to focus her attention on her...friend.   
  
"Yeah?" She asked quietly, not turning to face him. The feelings that bubbled up inside of her whenever he was around, the way she wanted to touch him, hold him, love him...they were all to much for her.   
  
Catie was...afraid.  
  
She smiled lightly, reflecting on the odd turn of events. She couldn't remember the last time that she had been nervous around someone, let alone afraid of the way that they made her feel. Especially not one of her best friend's in the entire world.   
  
The heat of his touch suddenly sent her reeling. His fingertips caressed her bare arms gently, his hands gripping her shoulders gently and sending feelings that she liked far to much spiraling through her.   
  
"What's wrong?" His voice was a whisper against her ear, and if she closed her eyes and imagined, she thought she could feel his lips just brushing the edge of her earlobe.   
  
"N--nothing." She stuttered, all the while mentally screaming at herself to either run or get closer. The closer he got to her, she noted dryly, the harder it was to think.   
  
"Are you sure?" Jamie whispered to her, moving closer to her, dropping his voice lower then it should be, his lips now actually brushing against the skin of her ear. Catie bit her lip, blocking the light moan that wanted to rush from her lips.   
  
'What are you doing!?' Jamie screamed at himself, trying in vain to pry himself away from Catie, go to the other side of the room, and beat his head into the wall until he was unconscious.  
  
What WAS he doing? He was standing here, with his hands on his best friend, and wanting nothing more then to pull her against him and kiss her breathless, kiss her until she was panting and clinging to him, her full lips swollen from the force of his mouth on hers.   
  
He shut his eyes, trying to keep the image of her like that out of his mind, but it was as stubborn as she was, and refused to leave.   
  
He shouldn't be doing this.   
  
This was not right.  
  
This was wrong.  
  
She was his best friend.  
  
He couldn't risk messing up their friendship because he couldn't keep his mind off of her.   
  
She meant to much to him.  
  
Catie was...everything to him.   
  
This wasn't right.  
  
He shouldn't be doing this.  
  
"Jamie..." Her voice was a breathless whimper in his ears, and so full of longing and desire that every single on of the reasons he had just thought of for why he shouldn't do this flew out of his mind, leaving only one thought, one desire.   
  
"Catie..."   
  
She turned to face him, her beautiful hazel eyes wide and dark with something he had never seen in her eyes before. His heartbeat speed up when she looked at him like that, and his blood was nearly boiling in his veins.   
  
He wanted her.   
  
Heaven help him, he WANTED her.   
  
Before he knew what was happening, his fingers were reaching out to trace her lips gently, his eyes locked on hers. She parted her lips slightly, and his index finger followed, his eyes never breaking contact with hers.   
  
"Jamie.." Her lips formed the word, his name, but no sound emerged from her mouth.   
  
Jamie put his other hand up to her face, surprised to see that it was shaking like a leaf caught in the breeze. He pressed it against her silky smooth cheek, and inhaled sharply, trying to get oxygen to his starving lungs.   
  
"I..." He tried to speak, but the words got stuck in his throat, and for one terrifying second, he was completely and utterly lost, groping mentally for anything to hold onto, anything at all.   
  
Catie stared into his eyes, her heartbeat so loud in her own ears, she was afraid that he could hear it. His hand was still pressed against her cheek, and she leaned into it, the warmth of his fingers on her skin making her tingle inside.   
  
What in the world was going on here?!   
  
The thought popped into her head without warning, and she bit down on her lip so hard that she was afraid that she was going to taste blood. She tried to push the thought away, wanting nothing more then to loose herself in the emotions that he was stirring in her.   
  
But once the thought grabbed a hold of her mind, it wouldn't let go, and Catie was forced to go with the flow of her thoughts.   
  
What *was* going on here? She was standing so close to Jamie that he might as well have been holding her in his arms, and she wanted nothing more right then for him to reach down and kiss her until she couldn't breathe.   
  
Her knees were water, and her heart was racing, and all she could focus on was Jamie. How much he meant to her. How much she wanted him.   
  
How much she wanted him.   
  
Screwing up her courage, Catie pushed herself up on her toes, and Jamie met her half way.   
  
His lips softly caught hers, pressing against them and molding to fit her mouth perfectly. Her knees went weak beneath her, and she grabbed his jacket to keep from falling and breaking the contact she had been secretly longing for since the first time she had ever laid eyes on Jamie Waite.   
  
The scent of her hair, the taste of her lips, the feel of her body pressed against his was nearly intoxicating, Jamie decided, his blood racing in his veins. He thought he was going to fall over, but that would mean breaking the gentle kiss, and he knew that he couldn't do that if his life depended on it.   
  
Son involved with the gentle kiss were the two that they didn't even notice as the rusty hinges of the door creaked open, and Val Linar poke her head in.  
  
"OH MY GOD!"   



	9. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: Still not mine, still wish they were. :) Anyway, this is not the end of the story. I thought I should make sure you guys knew that, because the last line of this chapter could possibly lead you to believe that. :) Chapter 10 is comming soon, and it's going to be a DOOZY! :) Not only is it going to tie up the MAJOR plot line in this story, but it's going to set up the sequal to it! :) Yes, I already have a sequal planned...and a sequal to that...and a sequal to that...all in all, this could turn into a ten story long arc, if you guys continue to like it as much as you have this one! Anyway, without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101 9/10   
  
Val's shriek was probably the only thing in the world that could have pulled the duo apart.   
  
Shocked, Catie yanked herself out of Jamie's arms and turned to look at her best friend, biting her lower lip. Jamie, for his part, gulped and took a step back away from Catie, wondering how long Val had been standing there.   
  
Val, of course, was in a total state of shock. She had finally convinced herself (along with Tyler, Brooke and Hank) that letting Jamie and Catie out of the closet was the best course of action.   
  
Tyler had been slightly dubious of the plan, considering the fact that he thought that the quiet coming from the closet was all part of Catie's master plan for beating the ever living crap out of him.   
  
The young blonde stared at her two friends, her mouth hanging open in shocked silence. While she had been all for her little sister's plan to get Jamie and Catie together, she hadn't quite expected it to, well, work.   
  
It appeared that she had been very, VERY wrong on that account.   
  
"Uhh...am I...err...interrupting?" Val asked, searching for something to say to break the tension.   
  
"No." Jamie said quickly.   
  
"Yes." Catie responded at the same time. She blinked when her mind registered Jamie's answer, and she looked at him in confusion, wondering what he meant by that.  
  
Val obviously was wondering as well, because she fixed him with a look that quite clearly said she didn't understand and he had better have a good explanation or he was going to GET it.   
  
However, Jamie did not seem to either a) understand her look or b) care what her look meant. Instead, he dropped his eyes to the floor and pushed past her and out the door, never once looking back.   
  
"Umm...okay?" Val asked out loud, her confusion written all over her face. When she looked over at her best friend, she found something quite different written on the other girl's features. "Catie?"   
  
The brunette didn't respond, her eyes following the tall figure of Jamie Waite even though he was no where in sight. Val, concerned, stepped forward, and put her hand on the other girl's shoulder.   
  
"Catie? What happened?"  
  
"I...he...we..." Catie trailed off, her eyes large and dark in her pale face.   
"Catie?" Val tried again, squeezing the girl's shoulder gently, trying to get her to look at her.   
  
When Catie finally was able to face her friend, Val bit her bottom lip, trying to keep her emotions in check. Catie looked so...heartbroken. Her skin was paler then it normally was, and her eyes were very dark in her face, and glistening lightly with tears. Without another word, Val drew the smaller girl into a hug.  
  
Catie began to cry softly, and Val felt like her heart was going to break. What in the world was going on--it wasn't like Catie to cry about anything.   
  
"Catie, what is it?" The blonde asked, wondering what could possibly be wrong with her best friend.   
  
"Nothing...nothing at all." Catie lied, her voice cracking in the middle of her sentence.   
  
@-}--}---  
  
What in God's name had he been thinking?!   
  
Jamie slammed his head back against the brick building, his hands knotted into fists. How could he DO that to Catie--kiss her the way he had, and just run out on her?!   
  
What was WRONG with him?! What kind of scum bucket WAS he, that he could do that to his BEST FRIEND!?  
  
He never should have kissed her. He should have left things as they stood--no more then friends, with absolutely no chance of anything more.   
  
It wasn't what he WANTED, and judging by that kiss, it wasn't what Catie wanted either. But that was the way it had to be--he had decided a long time ago that he was never going to loose Catie, and if that meant sacrificing his heart's desire, then so be it.   
  
She was too important to him, she was EVERYTHING to him. He knew, he KNEW, that he would never do anything but hurt her.   
  
And it seemed that he had just proven himself right. He had left her standing there, even though everything in him was screaming at him to shove Val out the door, lock it from the inside and never stop kissing Catie.   
  
But he knew that he couldn't do that--because he couldn't hurt Catie. And if he was with her the way he wanted to be, then she would get hurt. He would hurt her.   
  
That was the one thing that he swore he would never do. And, two minutes after their first kiss, he had already hurt her.   
  
Jamie slammed his head against the concrete wall again, wishing that he knock the memory of Catie's exquisite kiss and beautiful face from his memory.  
  
All he was was trouble and pain and heartache. He couldn't let Catie get involved in his messed life, even though sometimes it seemed she was the best thing in it.   
  
He couldn't let her get hurt.   
  
He couldn't be with her.  
  
End of story.   



	10. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: They are still not mine, because if they were, I would not make everybody wait to see all of our fave couples get together! LOL!! ANd guess what people?! I'm DONE WITH THIS STORY!!!!!! WOOOOO HHHHHHOOOOOO!!!! I had a great time writing this story, and I hope that you guys had as much fun reading it. This is probably the longest TV fiction story that I have ever wrote, and I'm proud of myself for getting it done. In fact, I have actually plotted out the entire arc that this story starts out, and I have to warn you--it get steadily more angst. ANyway, keep an eye out for "Power Play" the next in this storyline--it focuses more on Tyler and Val, even though Jamie and Catie predominate the sub-plot (as always! Don't worry though, J/C will play a major part in the arc, of course, as will Hank in the thrid story. ) Anyway, I hope you like this last part, so without further ado...  
  
Matchmaking 101 10  
  
Val reached out and put her arm around her best friend's shoulder, pulling Catie into a hug. The dark haired girl allowed the blonde to hold her for a few seconds, before pulling away and swiping at her eyes half heartedly with the back of her hand.   
  
"I'm okay now." She whispered, her voice cracking just a little bit.   
  
"Liar." Val said softly, her blue eyes dark and concerned. Catie refused to meet her eyes, her shoulder's shaking slightly.  
  
"I know. " Her voice was barely a whisper, and Val had to strain her ears to happen.   
  
For a minute, silence hung in the air around the two girls like a shroud, the quietness mocking them. Val chewed on the bottom of her lip, wondering if she should break the pregnant silence. After much internal debating , she decided that Catie needed very much to talk about it, so it was up to her to break the stillness.   
  
"What...what happened?"   
  
Okay, that might not have been the best way to go, Val decided, noting her best friend's cringe. For a minute, it looked like Catie might not answer, but then the words were spilling out of her like a waterfall.  
  
"He...he kissed me. Or I kissed him. Or...something like that. The point is, we kissed. And I...I...I..." Catie trailed off, her voice getting softer with every word she spoke.  
  
"You...liked it?" Val tried, her eyes smiling slightly.   
  
"Yeah...yeah, I did. A lot. I...felt something...something that I've never felt before." Catie's tone took on a slightly dreamy cast too it. She seemed to notice it after a second, and shook her head, as if the pull her mind out of the clouds. "Anyway, we kissed...and then you walked it. And he...left."  
  
Catie dropped her eyes again, studying the floor, before looking back up at Val, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She couldn't voice her question, but she knew that her best friend would understand, not matter what.   
  
And she was right. Val stepped forward, and put her arms around the smaller girl, hugging her tightly.   
  
"I don't know why he did it Catie. But I know that you need to find out...or...you're never going to get any peace, or closure from this." Val told her, pressing her cheek against Catie's hair.   
  
"How...how could he do that?" Catie cried, her voice catching on the last word. "How could he just...kiss me like that, and then leave? Didn't if matter to him at all...didn't he feel anything?'   
  
"Oh Catie..." Val whispered softly, swaying with the girl in her arms gently. "I don't know why he did what he did...it seems so...out of character for him."   
  
Her reassurances fell flat, and the female EMT knew it. However, Catie began to stop crying and get a hold of her emotions, so Val counted herself lucky. Of course, she realized that her words probably had nothing to do with it--it was probably due more to the fact that Catie never let herself fall apart for more then a few seconds, even in front of Val.   
  
Brushing the last tears off her face, Catie looked up at Val. "I'm okay now. Really."   
  
"Are you sure?" Val asked, putting her hand lightly on her shoulder, her eyes concerned. Catie let a small smile touch her lips and nodded, her dark eyes growing even darker.   
  
"I am. But I think your right...I need to talk to Jamie."   
  
"Now?" Val asked, slightly concerned.   
  
"No time like the present." Catie replied, squaring her shoulders and heading out of the supply room, her eyes determined and her chin set.  
  
"Umm...well...okay..." Val said to Catie's back, her eyes widening slightly as the girl left. 'Poor Jamie...'   
  
@-}--}---  
  
Jamie was not impressed with himself. How could he have let that happen?   
  
The young man was now sitting on the picnic table in front of the station, his head in his hands. He'd been there for nearly ten minutes, ever since he had left Catie standing in the supply closet. How could he have done that?  
  
"That was the stupidest thing you've ever done, Waite." Jamie muttered out loud to himself. "You knew she was off limits."   
  
"Who was off limits?" A voice asked from somewhere behind him. The young man sighed, and didn't look up.  
  
"None of your business Hank." He muttered, hoping that his attitude would force the other young man to leave.   
  
"Not gonna work on me, Jamie. I've known you long enough to tell when your copping the 'tude to get people to leave you alone cause you don't wanna talk about it. What happened, and why is Catie off limits?"   
  
"What makes you think I was talking about Catie?" Jamie snapped defensively.   
  
"Because...you're head over heels for her." Hank tried, coming to sit down beside his friend.   
  
"WHAT?!" Jamie's head shot up, his eyes wide and stark terror was visible in them. "That's crazy, she's just my..." He trailed off, watching his friend grin knowingly at him. Sighing, Jamie decided that he might as well fess up. "Okay, so I am. So what?"   
  
"Nothing...just wondering what made you decide you couldn't be with her. I mean, it's obvious to well...everybody, except for you two that is, that your both completely into each other." Hank assured him.  
  
"It is--" Jamie stared to deny him, but was cut off by his friend's look. "Is it that obvious?"   
  
Hank grinned and nodded his eyes dancing slightly. "Oh yeah. But at least you guys don't do the big soulful looks like Val and Tyler do."   
  
"Oh well, as long as I don't do that..." Jamie let a small smile touch his lips and nodded, running a hand through his spiky black hair.   
  
"You never did answer my question, man." Hank said after a minute, his dark eyes studying his friend for a minute.   
  
"About?" Jamie played dumb, even though he knew what his friend meant.   
  
"About why's she's off limits?" Hank reminded him. Jamie sighed, and looked back down at the ground, digging his fingers through his thick black hair.   
  
"Because...she's...she's...I don't know. She just is." Jamie informed his friend, shaking his head.   
  
"There has to be a reason." Hank pressed. "People don't just arbitrarily decide that they can't date a certain person. There has to be a reason, even if it's the stupidest one on the face of the earth--like, wrong hair color."  
  
"I like Catie's hair." Jamie muttered.  
  
"That's not the point." Hank rolled his eyes, confused by his friend's problem.   
  
"I know." Jamie finally allowed, looking up from the ground.   
  
"Then what is it?" Hank repeated his earlier question.   
  
"Haven't you ever just felt...not...good enough for some one?" Jamie asked his friend, looking at the boy out of the corner of his eye. "No, of course you haven't." He answered his own question, sighing.   
  
"Is that it?! You don't think your good enough for Catie?" Hank asked the other man.   
  
Jamie was silent for a long second, refusing to look at Hank for fear that the observant young man would see the truth in his eyes. However, his silence spoke louder then words, and Hank sighed, looking down at the ground.   
  
"That's it isn't it." It was not a question. "What makes you think that you don't deserve her--don't deserve to be happy?"   
  
Jamie flinched, but found his voice long enough to answer. "I...you wouldn't understand."   
  
"That's cool man. You don't have to tell me if you don't want. However, you are gonna have to tell Catie. No matter what you might think, she's into you, and if you don't tell her what's up, your going to wind up hurting her." Hank advised, rubbing his chin.   
  
"Too late for that." Jamie muttered, his eyes dark.  
  
"What do you mean?" Hank asked, curiously.   
  
"Nothin'." The dark haired youth ran his fingers through his hair again, making it stand on that.   
  
"I think I can hazard a guess." The older EMT deduced by watching his friend's body langue "Look--this is something you have to work out with Catie. And I suggest that you do it fast, before you mess up a really good thing."   
  
"Hank--you don't get it do you?" Jamie asked, sighing in frustration. "I...I can't tell her."   
  
"Why not?" Hank asked, confused.   
  
"Because she wouldn't understand."   
  
"How do you know that? I might." Catie's voice startled them both and Jamie winced. How long had she been listening?  
  
"Hey Catie...uh...I...uhh...think I hear Alex calling for me... so, you know, I'll just be going now." Hank told the two, walking away and heading toward the   
  
Jamie swallowed hard, before looking over his shoulder at his friend. Catie had her arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes were dark in her face, her lips pulled down into a slight, thoughtful frown.   
  
"Ummm...hi?" He tried, swallowing again, and dropping his eyes to the ground one more time.   
  
"Hi? That's all you've got to say? Is hi?!" Catie wanted to scream. Loudly. But she managed to refrain from doing so, but only just barely. What she really wanted to do was smack Jamie senseless, and then kiss him until he couldn't breath.   
  
'Stop it.' Catie chided herself, shaking her head. 'Your angry at him. He hurt you. He hurt you worse then anyone has ever hurt you before. You do NOT want to kiss him.'   
  
Her little pep talk convinced her that she didn't want him with every single fiber of her being for about...twenty seconds. Enough time for her to look up, and get lost in a pair of the darkest, saddest, most all around beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen.   
  
"I'm...I'm sorry Catie." His perfect lips formed the words so...sensually, Catie suddenly found herself at a loss for what she was so angry about in the first place.  
  
'He HURT YOU!' The little voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Val yelled, trying to get her attention.   
  
'But he's sorry!' The annoying voice, the one that had been after her to be with Jamie since it was first created, piped up.  
  
'That's not the point.' Val-voice reminded Annoying-Voice.  
  
'Shut up both of you.' Catie growled mentally, shaking her head slightly to make the voices stop babbling.   
  
"How can you say your sorry?" While Catie had been arguing with her voices, her mouth had been on autopilot. "You kissed me like there was no tomorrow, and then you run off and leave me like it was nothing at all. I don't GET you Jamie! I mean..."   
  
"Catie.." Jamie broke in, running a hand through his unruly black hair. "I'm...I'm sorry. That's all I can say...is that I'm sorry. I let my emotions..." He trailed off, cursing himself for going that far.   
  
"You let your emotions do what?" Catie pressed, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Jamie.   
  
"Nothing." Jamie muttered, refusing to answer her question.   
  
"Yeah, right Jamie. Just tell me the truth--for ONCE." Catie growled, her eyes flashing angrily.   
  
That got his attention. The young man's head snapped up, and he looked her dead in the eye, his own blazing with emotion.   
  
"I NEVER lie to you Catie. Never!" Jamie hissed, enraged that she would suggest such a thing.   
  
"Never huh? Then what's the deal with the kiss and run stuff?" Catie demanded, her heart banging against her chest.   
  
"I didn't lie." Jamie snapped.  
  
"You made me think you wanted me! If that's not a lie, then I don't know what is! You might not have said the words Jamie, but you lied to me just the same!" Catie screamed at him, her eyes, to her horror, brimming with tears.   
  
He swallowed so hard she could see it. For a moment, it looked like he was going to bolt, and Catie bunched up her muscles to run after him. He wasn't going to get away from her until she knew what the deal was.   
  
'What do I say, what do I do, how could this happen?!' Jamie's thoughts were a wild tumble in his mind, as he groped for the words to tell Catie how he really felt. His need to protect her from himself was at war with his need to be with her, and it felt like he was being ripped in two. He wanted her, but he didn't deserve her--which would win in the end? His longing or his protectiveness?   
  
She stood before him, her eyes glowing and snapping like dark flames, her soft skin alight with the fuel of rage. She looked so incredibly beautiful standing there, he thought that his heart was going to burst from his chest. What should he do? Go with his mind or go with his heart?   
  
Which was stronger? His convictions or his desire? His longing to protect her or his longing FOR her?   
  
When she looked at him like that, his answer was made for him, and the words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about them and to talk himself out of it.   
  
"I didn't lie."   
  
"What?" She whispered, shocked by his simple statement, and the fire that it brought to his soulful dark eyes.   
  
Wetting his lips, Jamie opened his mouth to speak again. "I...didn't...lie. I want you. In my arms, in my life, wherever you go, I wanna be with you. I need you, Catie. I want you. I don't understand the way I feel for you, the way I've always felt about you, but I know that I have to have you in my life, or it would be...empty." When he finished, he dropped his eyes to the floor, as if to embarrassed to face her.   
  
Catie opened her mouth, and then closed it. In her wildest daydreams and fantasies of a moment like this, she had never even allowed herself to think that someone would say something like that to her. Her heart had never beat this fast before--she was half afraid that she was going to pass out, but she managed to keep her cool.   
  
Looking up, her dark eyes glued him to the wall, and closed his eyes, waiting for her to tell him that she didn't feel that way about him, and that it was all just a mix up. However, she didn't say anything for the longest time, simply looking at him like she would at some curious unidentifiable type of bug.   
  
"What?" He finally couldn't take it anymore.  
  
"You meant that didn't you?" Her tone was awestruck. Jamie blinked in confusion, and looked at her again, wondering what he was going to see in her face. A slight smile was pulling at her lips, and her eyes danced.   
  
"Every word." Jamie breathed, amazed that she was looking at him that way. Why was she looking at him like--  
  
Her soft mouth on his stopped that thought before it even got started. He gave himself to that kiss, wanting nothing more for this tiny instant in time to stop. But time won't stop for anyone, and the kiss eventually came to it's natural end.   
  
"Catie..." As soon as the soft pressure of her mouth on his was gone, Jamie was brought back to the reality that the fire in her eyes had yanked him from, just a few short minutes ago. He would hurt her if he loved her. He couldn't let her get...  
  
"You won't hurt me Jamie. You ARE good enough for me, because I say you are. I want you and I need you, and the only thing that I'm going to worry about is if I'm good enough for you." Catie told him firmly, a grin pulling at her lips.   
  
Jamie blinked at her, wondering if she could read his mind. A grin pulled at her lips, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes dancing. "I was sorta listening to the conversation you were having with Hank. Now kiss me again, and we'll see if this is for real."   
  
He couldn't think of anything to say to that, so tilted his head down to hers and pressed his lips to hers as gently as he could. Fire shot through his veins, and he pulled her closer, wanting to hold her against his body forever. But, like all good things, it had to end, and he let her go, his breathing slightly labored.   
  
"Oh yeah, it's definitely for real." Catie decided, a small grin pulling at her lips. Jamie chuckled at her, and leaned his forehead against hers, happy, truly happy, for the first time in years.   
  
@-}--}---  
  
"This is so great...they got everything worked out!" Brooke cheered, peering out of the window that looked out across the basketball court.  
  
"Brooke! I really don't think you should be watching that!" Val reprimanded her younger sister.   
  
"Yeah Brooke. Their already pissed enough at us as it is." Tyler spoke up nervously, eyeing the window uneasily.   
  
"Are you still scared that Catie's going to beat you up?" Val teased.  
  
"Yes--I don't want to have to explain to William and Mom that I got the crap beat out of me by a five foot two girl and that's why I can't go on the trip this weekend." Tyler explained, rolling his eyes.   
  
"Oh yeah, William's taking you guys for a trip on his boat, right? Sounds like fun!" Val grinned, glad that Tyler had started to be more accepting of his stepfather now.   
  
"I hope it will be." Tyler said nervously, rubbing his chin. "But ya never know."   
  
"I'm sure it will be fine." Val grinned, her eyes sparkling. "What could go wrong?"   
  
"Awww...look! Their kissing again!" Brooke cooed. "Where's my camera?!"  
  
"Brooke!" The three teens in the room yelled at the girl, laughing at the girl.   
  
"What? What'd I say?"   



End file.
